UMUR "Images and Words" is the second full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Dream Theater. The album was released through ATCO Records in July 1992. It´s the successor to "When Dream and Day Unite" from 1989 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as lead vocalist Charlie Dominici has been replaced by Canadian singer James LaBrie. Dominici and Dream Theater parted ways in mutual understanding, and the remaining band members auditioned a couple of hundred vocalists before finding and hiring LaBrie.

While "When Dream and Day Unite" got Dream Theater noticed it wasn´t the grand entrance to the progressive rock/metal scene that Dream Theater had hoped for, but with a new lead vocalist on board, and a couple of years to hone their skills and songwriting craft, they hit the bullseye with "Images and Words". The mid-to late 80s produced progressive metal artists like Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Crimson Glory, and Watchtower, which are all artists Dream Theater are arguably influenced by, but Dream Theater managed to perfect and develop upon the sound of the 80s progressive metal acts and take progressive metal into the 90s and they did that with the release of "Images and Words".

One of the things which made Dream Theater different from their 80s influences, was a permament keyboardist in the lineup (most of them to varying extents used keyboards in their music but didn´t have a permanent keyboardist in the lineup). In that respect they were more influenced by 70s progressive rock artists than the above mentioned 80s progressive metal artists. A sort of pairing of the complexity and virtuosic ideals of the 70s (and omnipresent use of keyboards) and the hard rocking and heavy metal oriented 80s. Dream Theater also helped change the perspective that most heavy metal acts through the 80s were predominantly focused on the lead vocalist or the lead guitarist. In Dream Theater all members were virtuosos and the focus are therefore on all members of the band.

"Images and Words" was originally intented to be a double album release, but ATCO Records refused Dream Theater´s ideas for a double album, and that for example meant that their over 20 minutes long epic "A Change of Seasons" was left off the tracklist. It was a track they had performed live in the previous years, but since they were only allowed to release a single album and not a double album, it had to be left off.

Dream Theater still manange to include a lot of different music styles and influenced into the 8 tracks featured on the 57:07 minutes long album. Opening track "Pull Me Under", which is one of the heaviest and less complex tracks on the album, starts the album in great style and immediately graps the listener and introduce the varied sound of Dream Theater. The heavy riffs and rhythms, the strong melodies, the epic atmospheres, the time-signature changes, the mainstream/AOR pop/rock oriented choruses, and the virtuosic playing and singing. "Pull Me Under" is followed by the ballad track "Another Day", which is a very mainstream pop/rock oriented track, featuring a soaring soprano saxophone melody (courtesy of session musician Jay Beckenstein). It´s by far the most accessible and technically simple track on the album. "Take the Time" follows and it´s quite the diverse musical experience, with both a funky opening, heavier riffs and rhythms as well as a melodic pop/rock chorus, and some pretty impressive technical guitar/keyboard playing.

"Surrounded" is up next, and it´s another softer track. But it´s more a power ballad than a ballad, and it´s not as simple or easily digested as "Another Day". It´s actually something as rare as a progressive power ballad. It´s quite the brilliant song. It´s followed by the most complex and technical track of the album in "Metropolis, Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper". Another brilliant and complex composition, which upon release turned a few heads and helped convince people of Dream Theater´s virtuosic qualities. "Under a Glass Moon" is a track I´ve always thought of as being in the same vein as "Pull Me Under" and "Take the Time". A heavy track but with an uplifting mood and some great technical playing. Guitarist John Petrucci´s guitar solo on this particular track is legendary. The piano/keyoard and vocal ballad "Wait for Sleep" works as an introduction track to the closing 11:30 minutes long epic closing track "Learning to Live". Another brilliant and well composed track showing both the melodic, the atmospheric, the heavy, and the virtuosic sides of Dream Theater.

Featuring a clear, detailed, and powerful sounding production job (the drums feature a sometimes sterile and artificial sound, but it suits the music), brilliant musicianship, and a varied, adventurous, and powerful songwriting style, "Images and Words" is not only a high quality release in itself...it´s also a seminal progressive metal album and a true game changer in the genre. A 5 star (100%) rating is deserved.

SilentScream213 Images and Words is kind of the first Progressive Metal album of the white collar, semi-symphonic ballad heavy variant. While Dream Theater’s debut was a pretty generic slice of first wave Prog Metal, here Dream Theater take a cue from the likes of Queensryche and Fates Warning, adding strong, anthemic choruses and near-Pop commercial sensibilities, though retaining the later band’s complex songwriting and musicianship. More interestingly, they borrow Savatage’s melodramatic balladry, and bring a strong ensemble of keys, strings, sax, and probably a bunch of other instruments to the mix.

New (and now long-time) Vocalist James LaBrie adds a signature charisma to the vocal delivery, with an impressive range and strong lyrical chops. Instrumentally, it’s not in the overtly technical territory of prog wankery, and rather the band does a great job of servicing the song as needed, and showing off when appropriate. There’s also a huge variety to the songs here, and they pull off just about everything they try their hand at. There’s epic songs, somber songs, sappy songs, serious songs… and tons of different styles, all wrapped in that signature Prog Metal package. The band is so instrumentally entertaining that they actually make a cheerfully cheesy wankfest in “Take the Time” that manages to be a total delight from start to finish.

There really isn’t a wasted minute here, and the penultimate track “Wait for Sleep” is proof of that. Normally, 2 minute non-metal interludes on Metal albums are terrible wastes of space that just slow things down, but this one is a beautiful piano-vocal duet that not only sets the mood perfectly for the last track, but is a memorable piece of beauty in it’s own right. And that last track, “Learning how to Live,” is definitely the band’s greatest achievement as of release. Perfect closer that goes through a total range of moods and styles in it’s 11 minute runtime, never overstaying it’s welcome.

siLLy puPPy The early 90s caused a lot of turmoil in the music industry as everything 80s was pretty much swept away by the alternative rock and grunge invasion that was pretty much solidified by Nirvana’s phenomenal success of its album “Nevermind,” but the metal world too was completely transformed as glam metal went the way of the dodo as more extreme acts like Metallica and Megadeth established metal as a more technical and serious genre for the masses. Add to that changing of the tides the massive explosion of not only the prog rock revival but something completely new and that was progressive metal. DREAM THEATER had already been around a few years but didn’t capture a lot of attention with its debut “When Dream And Day Unite” which IMHO was an excellent album but suffered from a dismal album cover and emerging a little too soon for the appetite of the public to shift interest into the complexities that prog metal had to offer.

DREAM THEATER itself underwent a huge change when lead singer Charlie Dominici left the band and was replaced by James LaBrie who had remained with DT ever since. After joining the dream team of guitarist John Petrucci, keyboardist Kevin Moore, bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy, the band was ready to conquer the world with its second classic release IMAGES AND WORDS which was released just at the right time for a glam metal weary public to move on to something with a bit more heft and together with Fates Warning and Queensryche, DREAM THEATER launched the progressive metal invasion that hasn’t stopped since this album was released in 1992. The album pretty much caught the world’s attention immediately with the release of the first single “Pull Me Under” which featured the heft and bravado of classic 80s metal but featured hitherto unthinkable progressive rock crossover effects which most of the world had never experienced despite bands like Watchtower developing the prog metal world in the underground as early as 1984.

As DREAM THEATER’s most successful album of all time, IMAGES AND WORDS is regarded as one of those classics that launched a whole new revolution in the metal world with complex proggy composiitons that adopted symphonic prog touches from bands like Kansas, pastoral moments of classic Genesis and knotty compositions that exuded virtuosic instrumental interplay in the vein of classic Yes but with the energetic overdrive of 80s power metal with neoclassical references. While regarded as an all time classic, i personally can’t say i find IMAGES AND WORDS to be a perfect album by any means. No doubt that “Pull Me Under” was not only the perfect single to bring DT to the world’s attention but also the perfect track to begin the album as it delivers electrifying atmospheres, dynamic songwriting skills performed by seasoned veterans of the metal trade with an energetic bombast and vocal octave range that put this band well over the talent range of the average metal band of the era. However some of the tracks just flounder a bit such as the rather sleepy AOR inspired “Another Day” with Kenny G sax sensualities and sounding something like Styx on a very uninspired day.

While the first half of IMAGES AND WORDS may sound a bit restrained as the band was trying too hard to appeal to melodic metal bands of the 80s that featured too many sappy ballads, the second half opens with the highlight of the album the outstanding “Metropolis—Part I: 'The Miracle and the Sleeper,’" a massive sprawling near 10-minute track that busts out all the prog goods with all the bombast, pomp and awe one could hope for including Keith Emerson keyboard wizardry, tricky speed-of-light time signature frenzies and some of the best musicianship that the band members have ever conjured up. The track proved to be a popular live number with variations changing each performance and by popular demand carried on until an entire album “Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory” finally emerged down the line.

Luckily the album continues the prog workouts with tracks like “Under A Glass Moon” and even takes the beautiful ballad “Wait For Sleep” into turbulent prog workout territories culminating in the album’s lengthiest track the 11 1/2 minute “Learning To Live” which ultimately leaves a satisfying experience that leaves IMAGES AND WORDS resonating high on the metallic prog-o-meter. When all is said and done this album really does deserve its status as one of the best prog metal albums of all time however as i’ve already stated i find the second track “Another Day” to be a throwaway track and even “Surrounded” lacking in compositional fortitude. If these two tracks had been modified or replaced altogether then i would could perhaps deem this a perfect album but since they appear early on sort of dampen the overall experience. But i shouldn’t be too harsh as they aren’t gawd awful tracks either. They just don’t live up to the quality of the others therefore they can be overlooked as a small blemish that doesn’t detract from the overall magnitude that the album brings forth as one of prog metal’s magnum opus. After all the remaining tracks have a staying power some thirty years later after IMAGE AND WORDS’ initial release and one of DREAM THEATER’s finest moments for sure.

The Crow This is probably the progressive metal's most important album, and one of the most important albums of progressive music too!

Due to this disc and the later Awake, the progressive genre enjoyed from really good health the last decades, because a lot of people (like me) discovered this way of understand music with Dream Theater. For that I must give a lot of thanks to Dream Theater for revitalizing the progressive music at the beginning of the 90’s.

The album itself it's a true masterpiece. All the songs are magnificent, with a fantastic production and instrumental development. Maybe the keyboards are in a little too 80's way sometimes, but I'm still loving this entire album completely.

Pull me Under starts with a mysterious guitar melody and original keyboards, and soon derives in a very strong guitar riff which are soon accompanied by the great La Brie’s vocals. After that we can hear the typical masterclass of songwriting and variations that this album had in their first albums. Another Day is even better, with a memorable saxophone playing and an outstanding guitar solo.

Take The Time is simply the best Dream Theater's song in my humble opinion, and among the best progressive songs ever recorded. Just incredible! Surrounded it's different from the rest of the album, and maybe for this reason has a special place in my heart. It has some Rush and Saga influences and sometimes it sounds even Neo-Prog for me. Just great!

Metropolis – Part I has another atmospheric beginning leaded by the Kevin Moore’s keyboards and after that, just like Pull me Under we can hear a collection of great riffs which lead to the verses. This composition is more obscure and dramatic than the rest, and a very good central track. I will never forget the first time I heard the instrumental part of this song which begins at 4:17 many years ago. I was blown away! And I’m still amazed of the quality of these musicians.

Under a Glass Moon has a majestic beginning, worthy of the best science fiction film! Then the strong drums beef up the song, which derives in another heavy riff and very original verses with the initial melody. The instrumental development of the song is also fantastic. Another classic of this album with a superb guitar solo!

Wait for Sleep is a slow and beautiful ballad driven by a marvellous piano melody. Here we can also hear the ability of La Brie to sing in lower tones. And Learning to Live is the final masterpiece. Another brilliant piece of pure progressive metal with the best keyboard work of the album, great bass lines and another outstanding example of good songwriting and musicianship.

Conclusion: Images and Words is one of the peaks of progressive and a must for everyone. Even if you don’s like progressive metal, this is a must hearing album.

Last fact I want to comment: James LaBrie couldn't never reach again the great voice and the incredible high notes that he reached in this album. In Awake he sounded rougher and he has been losing his voice along the years for the reasons we all know.

And that’s a pity.

Best Tracks: Pull Me Under, Another Day, Take The Time, Surrounded, Metropolis – Part 1.

My rating: *****

This review was originally written for ProgArchives.com years ago, and rewritten today to be included here.

Modrigue Heavy neo-progressive metal at its best

After the embryonic prog-metal of the 70's and 80's, "Images and Words" will definitely establish the genre in the musical landscape, as well as DREAM THEATER as its undisputed leader.. for a certain time. Sincere progress have been made since "When Dream and Day Unite". Singer Charlie Dominici has been replaced by James LaBrie, whose powerful voice is more adapted to heavy titles. In their compositions, the members have sharpened their virtuosity and their rhythm structures science, inspired by RUSH, METALLICA, QUEENSRŸCHE, MARILLION, and even ZAPPA, whose Mike Portnoy is big fan of. The production has also improved and the sound is clearer. Everything is not perfect though: DREAM THEATER offers quite soapy moments here, but its fantasy, soli and breaks are greater than before!

This second opus was initially intended as a double album, with the 25 minutes suite "A Change Of Seasons" included. However, the label imposed a single LP, resulting in the removal of various songs, and the re-recording of "ACOS", who will be released in 1995 on the eponymous EP.

The opener instantly became one of the band's great success. The cult and powerful "Pull Me Under" is a heavy title with an haunting introduction, fact-paced and calm passages, as well as an abrupt conclusion that always surprises me. Like I suppose many people, I thought my CD was broken at first listen. In fact, the musicians wanted to show death could arrive at any time... Not the most complex composition from DT, nevertheless very catchy. One of the band's classic! But the listener will have an even greater shock listening to the next track... What's this? The ballad "Another Day" simply features DT at its soapiest! A soundtrack for a cheesy eighties romantic clip, with its FM piano and saxophone. Easily the worst song of the record. "Take The Time" fortunately takes us back to a world of fantasy and dreamy metal with its gorgeous neo-heavy-prog passages, changing into groovy and funky rhythms. A lesser-known but nonetheless perfect title! Then comes the second and last black sheep of the album, "Surrounded". Another boring and out-of-place ballad, however this time more listenable than "Another Day", a bit in the style of MARILLION.

Don't worry, the second half of the disc can be browsed with serenity. In 1992, "Metropolis Part 1" was one of DREAM THEATER's most ambitious composition. An enchanting and epic tale, including numerous rhythm changes, various sonorities, catchy moments and breaks where RUSH and ZAPPA influences can be clearly perceived. It also features very short but incredible bass play from John Myung. Take the time to enjoy it, his solo interventions will unfortunately rarefy in the future... Anyway, a superb track! With "Take Your Time", "Under A Glass Moon" is "Images and Words"'s other forgotten little gem. Its majestic and floating opening unveils raging riffs and a fast-paced tune, but still with a neo-prog touch. Less breathtaking than its predecessor, nonetheless includes a few surprises and cool soli. "Wait For Sleep" is a short fairytale ballad, however this time much pleasant than the two others, introducing the longest and also maybe the heaviest song of the album, "Learning To Live". In the lineage of "Metropolis Part 1", this powerful epic displays assumed RUSH influences, with numerous ambiances and various interventions. The finale is simply heroic! Great!

"Images and words" is definitely one of DREAM THEATER's best opus, as well as an influential milestone in the progressive metal genre. This second effort show a genuine improvement compared to their debut, with better sound quality, more mature writing, more variations and better vocals.

A small remark though: this is no dark, depressive or aggressive prog-metal per se, rather fantasy / dreamy heavy neo-prog metal. The music is full of dated vintage synthesizer sounds, reminding MARILLION and SAGA, but that's what makes its own charm and contributes to the magical ambiance. Why two cheesy romantic titles among these colorful metallic epics full of gorgeous soli? I don't know... My advice: program your hi-fi to skip tracks 2 and 4. The rest is just flawless.

An essential listen for any progressive metal fan, and the one to start with if you're new to this genre or to DREAM THEATER. What are you waiting for?

martindavey87 It was back in 2003 that I was looking in a Virgin Megastore (remember those?) with the noble intention of investing my money in a band I'd never heard before. These were before the days when Youtube and streaming were so easily accessible. When we had to take risks with our money to try out new artists. I had stumbled across an album by a band I'd only heard of in name, but that risk was about to pay off; Dream Theater.

Being a 16-year-old heavy metal fan at the time, raised on a healthy diet of groups such as Megadeth, Metallica, Kiss and Rammstein, my initial thoughts were, quite simply; “this album sucks”. However, one thing piqued my interest, and it should come as no surprise that it was the amazingly heavy intro to the opening track, ‘Pull Me Under’.

As I heard more and more, the album grew on me. All these random traits of progressive music were becoming clearer. Odd time signatures, long, complex arrangements, the eclectic mixture of styles, keyboards (a heavy metal no-no), the creative lyrics and massive instrumental sections... It all started to make sense. To this day, 'Images and Words' not only introduced me to a new style of music, but a whole new way of looking at music.

So what makes it so great?

'Images and Words' is an album that defined a genre. Without Dream Theater, progressive metal might never have become what it did. Coming at a time when the genre was in its infancy, Dream Theater had that intangible X-factor that bands like Fates Warning, Queensryche, and even a group like Rush, were all missing at that point.

There's a perfect combination of everything on this album. There's metal songs, there's ballads, there's funky songs and there's jazzy songs too. The musicianship came at a time when there weren't many bands displaying such incredible technical prowess, at least in the mainstream anyway. Every song is perfectly crafted, with interesting musical passages and mind-boggling lyrics. 'Pull Me Under', 'Take the Time', 'Learning to Live' and the monstrous epic 'Metropolis Pt. 1; The Miracle and the Sleeper' are all staples in prog metal history.

This is the record that put Dream Theater on the map, and defined all progressive metal bands/albums for years to come. Every fan of the genre needs this in their collection, immediately. And I'm sure most old-school progressive rock fans will at least appreciate the importance this album had on prog music as a whole. Undeniably my favourite album of all time, 'Images and Words' is better than perfect.

Unitron Dream Theater-Images and Words

'Images and Words' is the second studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. Often called one of the greatest progressive metal albums of all time, if not the greatest, 'Images and Words' holds the spot as Dream Theater's highest rated album here on the MMA. This album is also claimed to have popularized the progressive metal sub-genre, even though bands like Queensryche, Voivod, and Watchtower came years before Dream Theater released their debut. While I do have to agree it did popularize progressive metal quite a bit, I don't think it's one of the greatest prog metal albums.

The album opens up with one of Dream Theater's most popular songs, 'Pull Me Under', which rightfully so is called a masterpiece. It begins with very memorable acoustic guitar chords before picking up with heavy guitar. Soon the crunching thrash riffs come in with complementary keyboard work. LaBrie's voice, as many have expressed before, is very much a love-hate vocal style. I personally love his voice, it's especially strong on this song, but some may find it annoying. You know you've made a perfect chorus when it constantly flows through your head, I find myself singing to the lyrics 'Pull Me Under, Pull Me Under, I'm Not Afraid!' quite often. Easily the best song on the album, and one Dream Theater's best songs in general.

The song that standouts the most along with 'Pull Me Under' is the nine-minute 'Metropolis Part 1', which is another one of my favorites. This song continues the melodic thrash found on the aforementioned song, except on a grander scale. Mike Portnoy's drums I find to be especially strong on this track, creating some pretty complex rhythms. It has an awesome bridge with complex keyboard and drum patterns. 'Learning to Live' is another favorite, the finale epic. LaBrie's vocals are very strong during the second part of the song, complementing the flowing guitar very well.

The only real problem I have with the album are the sappy ballads like 'Another Day' and 'Surrounded'. I'm not a fan of ballads, but I do like them if they're done right especially power ballads. I do love power ballads, but unfortunately these ballads act more as filler then songs to benefit the listening experience. While I really don't like the former, 'Surrounded' is a decent song. It's kind of cheesy, but it picks up at the end and has kind of a U2-feel to it. At first I thought 'Take the Time' didn't fit well, but it's grown on me. It has some nice funky bass work mixed with crunching riffing.

Overall, 'Images and Words' is certainly a great album even though it has its flaws. While not my favorite Dream Theater album, it's still an excellent album to have in any metal collection. If you ever thought melodic metal mixed with power-thrash would work well, I'd say give it a try if you haven't already.

Hope you found this review helpful.

Feel free to comment!

Sinkadotentree It has to be 4 years since i spun this one but i quite enjoyed listening to it this morning. My opinion is still the same though. Yes it's an influencial album no doubt, and one that put this band on the musical map but there are these sappy moments throughout that really turn me off. It's mostly when James is singing in a ballad-like manner and the music follows suit. Still how can you not be impressed with the complexity and power of the ground-breaking release. "Pull Me Under" gave the band some huge exposure on MTV and certainly many fans of this heavier styled music jumped on board. "Another Day" is a disappointment because of the ballad-like style and Kenny G-like sax. The next two tracks don't do much for me either but then we get some power with "Metropolis-Part I", "Under A Glass Moon" and "Learning To Live". So a mixed bag for me but i'm giving it a low 4 stars because of how influencial this was back in 1992.

dtguitarfan Another milestone album, both for Metal and Progressive music. This album is quite possibly the most important album in the history of Progressive Metal - kind of a game changer, genre-defining album. For me, this is a personal milestone as I feel I began to truly understand what Progressive music was all about through this album. I had already started getting into Dream Theater, and had a couple of their other albums when I started listening to this one. I remember HATING Metropolis Pt. 1 - absolutely loathed it. I don't remember why, but I did. But a funny thing happened - part of the instrumental section got lodged within my brain and I could not shake it loose. It would repeat over and over again. So I decided to listen to the song again. I loathed it a little less, and this time I thought "hmm, there's something interesting going on there, but I don't know what." I had to listen to this song again now, and did so a few more times and then I had an epiphany. I began to understand how the band was switching time signatures (compound time), and though I didn't understand fully, thought they might even be layering different time signatures on top of each other. This is when I began to truly appreciate and understand what Progressive music was about, and also probably the point at which Dream Theater became my favorite band.

Warthur Images and Words is an album I've found confounding for a while. Sometimes it just leaves me cold and I can't see how it's the classic many Dream Theater fans rate it as, but sometimes I get in the right mood and it's the only thing which will scratch the itch. It's got some absolutely irresistable hooks, and it's undeniably cheesy, and I've realised that unless I put myself in the mindset for something as hooky and cheesy (the sort of mood I more associate with power metal than typical prog metal) then I'm not going to enjoy it.

But if I am in that mood, boy howdy do I have a good time. When Dream and Day Unite was an excellent tribute to their various influences, but for the band to sustain itself it really needed to develop its own sound, and Images and Words is where it all came together with a diverse smorgasboard of crunching, thrashy riffs, virtuoso and delicate keyboard work and multi-section prog songwriting.

At its best, Images and Words is an exciting, muscular, adrenaline-pumping piece of prog metal which outlined the Dream Theater sound right when they needed to stake out their own identity. At its worst, you can detect all the tendency towards schmaltz and self-indulgence which the band sometimes fall prey to... but if you're in that Dream Theater mood, none of it matters and some of it might be exactly what you wanted to hear.

Isaac Peretz One of the most important albums in prog metal history. Like it or not. Images and Words sets the standard sound of, not only Dream Theater, but hundreds of Progressive Metal Bands as well. Despite being one of their shortest albums, it achieves multiple milestones for Dream Theater such as:

Their biggest comercial success: Pull Me Under The beginning of their instru-wanking addiction: Metropolis Pt. 1 One of their first epics: Learning To Live Their first album with the loved and hated singer: James LaBrie

And an overall definition of Dream Theater's sound. The album itself is creative, memorable, and fun to listen to.

If you're a prog metal fan: It's essential. If you're a classic prog fan: It's an excellent addition.

Since that would be 4.5 stars, I'm rounding it up to 5.

Cylli Kat Dream Theater - Images and Words Review № Stardate 11810.19a

THIS is perhaps the ultimate, most influential Progressive Metal album of all time. THIS is THE Badass Monster Mütha Fükka in my Prog Metal sensibilities..

(That is not meant to discount Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, Redemption, Pain of Salvation, etc. and others that have genre defining albums themselves).

A fantastic set of classic songs played to perfection by a group of very well practiced musicians. Well produced virtuosity tastefully on display, mixed with strong, interesting, adventurous compositions. I loved it then, and love it to this day.

This album spawned an entire generation of clone bands that tried to brave the waters that my friend, Mr. Portnoy & company set the course for and continually raised the standard of when relating to virtuostic, Progressive Metal.

This album deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it, and then some...

An absolute classic, and a MUST HAVE for any Prog Metal enthusiast.

A complete, no debate, gotta have, full-on 5 + stars on my scale. Obviously 5 stars here at PA.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Grace and peace, Cylli (Jim Calistro)

Navajasso I think this album deserves its title of 'milestone' in metal music. Obviously, not for being the first ever progressive metal album, because there were so many before, and not for being the best progressive metal album of all time, because that is debatable. This album is a milestone because it defined, with authority and exquisite music, a new metal sub-genre. And because of this album, many metal artists turned around and took a look at progressive rock bands of the 70's to influence their own sound and following and shaping a new path in metal music.

Today Dream Theater has many lovers and many haters, and for some people there are a bunch of bands that are better, but is undeniable that they are the symbol of a movement called progressive metal.

'Images and Words' has the right balance between calm, virtuosity and power, in which Dream Theater stablished some of the musical footprints that can be found in their following albums. It has also a 'beginning' and an 'end' - something that only the masterpieces have and that involves you until the very last song. It has, of course, very fast rythmical figures, but not in excess, and really beautiful and smart slow melodies played by the voice and the instruments.

The music speaks for itself, so its unnecesary to give more details about the album and the songs. I think 'Images and Words' must be in every personal music collection.

KeohaneWaltz I am a huge Dream Theater fan, but I must admit they don´t get better than this. When I started listening metal my favorite genre was power metal, but discovering music like the one Petrucci, Portnoy and Myung create was a revelation. Taking the leadership in a movement that Fates Warning and Queensryche started before, this album expands the boundaries of metal and show that progressive music is still alive. The best songs are the longer ones especially “Learning to Live”, “Pull Me Under”, “Under a Glass Moon” and of course “Metropolis Pt.1” which will continue in the future with a whole album. This record is also perfect for people getting into the prog metal world as it is a sort of definition of the genre.

kluseba Three years after the convincing and very strong first album "When Dream And Day Unite", Dream Theater came back with a new vocalist and created a new masterpiece of progressive rock or metal. While this album is maybe not as diversified as the first strike, "Images And Words" is able to create some really magic moments and has even some very catchy songs.

The magic moments are presnet on the calm songs of the record like the wonderful ballad "Another Day" that is brilliantly sung and convinces with some strong piano leads and a soprano saxophone that adds a very special note to the song. "Surrounded" is even better with its amazingly harmonic and chilling keyboard sounds and James LaBrie that delivers on of his strongest performances of all times in my opinion.

The catchiness that was lacking on the last record is now present with the opener "Pull Me Under" that has a very simple but strong chorus and some mystical and exotic rhythms. But to be honest, I think that this track is one of the less profound on the record and is a little bit too long in the ending just to end in a very abrupt and senseless way.

I rather prefer the progressive side of Dream Theater like in the very diversified "Take The Time" or the interesting "Learning To Live". But both of the songs are just good average on this record because they share the album with the masterpiece "Metropolis", maybe the best song the band has ever written. In almost ten minutes ever instrument gets the place it deserves and everyone is working over the top, beyond all limits to create a very diversified surprising and still logical and atmospheric track. This memorable piece of music unites everything what the band stands for and if I had to present Dream Theater to a good friend with just one single song, then I would chose this masterpiece that inspired the band to write a whole album around this track a couple of years later.

All in all, there is not much to argue about this album. It has some magic moments, every musician is doing his very best and the production and sound is more accurate than on the first record. There are a couple of songs that I would rather describe as average tracks that I like less, especially the complicated and somewhat faceless "Under A Glass Moon" or the overrated "Pull Me Under". This album is not as consistent as the underrated debut album. But on the other hand the band puts two of their best songs ever on this record with the unforgettable "Surrounded" and "Metropolis" and that's why this album is surely and easily in my top five ranking of the best albums in the band's biography even I would not put this record in the first places. But for any fan of progressive music, this masterpiece that somewhat reanimated a whole genre is a definite must have that offers a lot to discover. I would put the band's first to albums on the same level even though the have all different forces and weak points.

Dellinger I don't really understand why this album is considered by so many the cornerstone of prog-metal, perhaps I would have to been aware of their existence and of the metal and prog doings at the time of the release, but as it is, by then I was rather obliviuous of the musical world back then. However, ofcourse I do like this album, it's got some real gems, and the rest is at least enjoyable. For me, the gems in this album are Pull me Under, even though it may be the most mainstream song in the album, it's indeed really enjoyable. Then Metropolis, with it's trademark beginning that influenced the whole Scenes from a Memory album, though this song does have a rather long shredding-tedious section, it's still very good. Wait for sleep, even though it's very short and simple, is one of the most beautiful things DT has done. And Learning to Live is indeed a great Prog piece, enjoyable all around, and taking and expanding the theme from Wait for Sleep near the end of the song (which makes both songs more enjoyable if they are listened together). The rest of the songs aren't so outstanding for me. Another Day is just a pretty ballad, but can get a bit boring, and the other songs have many shredding-tedious passages that I could just as well do without hearing. All in all, a very good album. 4 stars.

jampa17 A masterpiece of Prog Metal. This is an album that has thrown a shadow over almost every single Prog Metal album since it was published. The album feels like that magical time in our life where everything seems to be on its right place. The band shares some of the greatest inspired songs in prog rock and makes a huge a high standard for all their posterior material.

After Metallica and Rush, seems like Dream Theater was the next step in the evolution of music. And the merge of metal and progressive was perfect. This was the album that shakes the ground of prog, forever.

To be honest, the material is just perfect. They kept the right balance between technical acrobatics as well as a lot of strong emotion and even “magic” (with the lack of a better word) with the more “in your face” metal that they showed in songs like Under a Glass Moon or Pull Me Under. Well, I know must of the new fans could say is not that heavy, that fast, that technical but hey, this album is kind of Kevin Moore trying to held the band not so loud and technical and been more emotional and touching... you know, there's no song like Surrounded in all the other albums... it's just beautiful and well composed and Wait For Sleep, you can feel that emotional vibe, that mix of sadness and "give up" feeling. Kevin was the master of songwritting. And if you see, he dominates must of the songs, not playing just fast and loud, but with soul and emotion... almost the half of the album has his leads... He can be fast, check the unisons with Petrucci in the instrumental part of Metropolis or the solo in Take the Time, but he liked to keep it cool and great... Sure will get the tradicional JP amazing solos, the Portnoy intricate performance... Myung presence is more evident and always with a very moody vibe, like in no other material from DT.

The production is not that shinny and the drum triggers that the producer uses were part of a huge controversy between the band and the producer but even with these “flaws”, it remains as the most important achievement for the band. The sound of DT will get better and they will get heavier as the time passes by, but here is where everything starts. Yes, is the second album, but the first one that means something to the audience. 4 stars for metal, 5 for prog metal. Wonderful experience.

SouthSideoftheSky What better title could there be for an album by a band called 'Dream Theater' than 'Images And Words'?

This album is a true classic of the Progressive Metal genre and, in my opinion, the very best of the whole genre. The opening song, Pull Me Under, is the one I like least, it has an alternative feel to it and it also ends rather abruptly for no good reason it seems. But it is still great! The closer, Learning To Live, is a true masterpiece of progressive rock. And all the songs in between are fantastic too!

The influences on the music include among many others a Jazz-Rock/Fusion influence which creates a truly unique sound together with the 70's and 80's Metal and Symphonic Prog influences. This is one reason that this album is so groundbreaking.

In my opinion Dream Theater would sink like a stone after this album and never again create anything even remotely close to the brilliance found on this album. This album has all their best songs.

Essential for anyone with even the slightest interest in Prog Metal. This is the place to start!

Very highly recommended!

Raff Though I have many flaws, I also pride myself on being a fair person - one who might not be the greatest fan of the New York quintet, but is nevertheless perfectly capable of recognizing quality when she sees it. In my very humble opinion, "Images and Words" remains to this day DT's finest offering, one they have never managed to top. Yes, they have become more ambitious, in some ways more commercial, and they have reached planetary status among both younger and older fans. However, this album, now 18 years old, has a freshness and a novelty value that their later, more complex efforts do not possess anymore. This is the true act of birth of one of the most enduringly popular styles of Prog-Metal, in which the 'progressive' component is noticeably stronger than the 'metal' one. Without I&W there would be no Symphony X, no Shadow Gallery, no Pain of Salvation, no Ayreon... Dream Theater are one of those rare bands who have managed to be ground-breaking without being really innovative.

Though everybody knows I am no supporter of technical prowess for its own sake, there is no denying that DT are masters of their instruments. This album also goes to prove that the band's greatest strength was the songwriting of keyboardist Kevin Moore,a more restrained player than the flamboyant Derek Sherinian, and a less technical one than Juilliard alumnus Jordan Rudess, though an undeniably sophisticated, tasteful composer. After him, the band's output became more over-the-top, with song lengths and instrumental complexity sometimes spiralling out of control. Here, instead, DT strike the right balance: even an overtly commercial song like "Another Day" does not disrupt the overall textural intensity of the album.

So far I have talked about instruments, not mentioning what is for many people the sore point of the band: James LaBrie's vocals. There's no denying that the man in question, like his band, has been the founder of a school of singing that numbers many followers; unfortunately, I only find him effective when impersonating that most unlikely of progressive rock singers, Metallica's James Hetfield (check his performance on "Train of Thought"). When he reaches for the higher notes, I find him at best irritating, at worst positively unbearable. However, his performance on I&W (his debut album with the band) is rather good, especially on the wistful mood piece that is "Wait for Sleep" (with great piano work by Moore); while on some parts of "Take the Time" I just wish he would shut up and let the others play.

With so many glowing reviews written before mine, I feel there is no point in doing a track-by-track analysis. Album opener "Pull Me Under", the band's best-known song, is quite catchy in its own way, though I find "Take the Time" vastly superior - the intro in particular is great. "Metropolis" is undeniably the most complex track from an instrumental point of view, with great performances from all the members of the band. On this album Portnoy's drumming sounds very clear and strong, though distinctly reminiscent of Neil Peart's in more than one instance (as a matter of fact, the Rush influences are startlingly evident at times). The album's standout track, though (especially from a lyrical point of view), is Myung's powerful, heartfelt "Learning to Live", where the bassist's remarkable skills can be clearly heard for once, instead of being swamped in the maelstrom of sound produced by the others. The song's coda is hauntingly beautiful, easily the best thing on the whole album.

Even though I suppose I will never become a DT fan, I&W deserves four stars for its undeniable musical quality - although, as I stated at the beginning, I feel its historical value is probably its greatest asset. Not really essential, but indeed an excellent addition to one's collection.

ovidiu STOP AND WORSHIP this milestone album,the mother of all prog metal albums,one of the best in music history without any doubt!I know,there isn't much to be sayed about this album,but all I can say that one single word it comes in my mind when I speak about IMAGES AND WORDS...and that word is PERFECTION!Absolutelly fabulous from the first second to the last one and trully a moment of divine grace and heavenly inspiration for this 5 outstanding musicians ,wellknown by all prog metal lovers,I won't mention them again!Let's say thet METROPOLIS-PART ONE has the 2.24 minutes of instrumental madness that changed the world of prog metal wizzardry in the middle section...let's say that on IMAGES AND WORDS are some PERFECT compositions called ANOTHER DAY...PULL ME UNDER...TAKE THE TIME...UNDER A GLASS MOON...LEARNING TO LIVE...SURROUNDED...WAIT FOR SLEEP...and...oops!her we have the entire album mentioned!Yes...because it's PERFECT!!!!!A fantastic clear production...fantastic musicianship overall... and even today...in 2010 we can say that this album is a major reference of the genre!!!Not only 5...but 500 STARS...and a thank you to the prog metal Gods forever...!!!